Lamp housing lens



Jan. 16, 1968 RUSSELL LAMP HOUS ING LENS Filed Aug. 30, 1965 2 I 2 I 2 2 3 w 6 0/ I] 1 x 4 f A l ,7 W

United States Patent 3,364,347 I LAMP HOUSING LENS Martyn Russell, Elgin, 11]., assignmto Water Conditioning Products Company, St. Charles, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Aug. 30, 1965, Ser. No. 483,469 1 Claim. (Cl. 240-26) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An underwater lamp lens having an electrically conductive wire grid embedded in the transparent lens material. The Wires in the grid are welded together at their crossing points and have portions extending into contact with an electrically conductive rim peripherally surrounding the lens and connected to ground.

This invention relates to electric lamp fixtures for use underwater, particularly in swimming pools, aquariums, display fountains and the like.

With the increasing use of underwater lights in instal lations of the kind indicated accidents due to faculty or damaged electric light fixtures have become rather frequent, and particularly in swimming pools such conditions dangerous to human health and life are no longer uncommon.

Electric lamps for underwater illumination in swim ming pools are usually installed in recesses or wells in the walls of the pools. In one common type of such installations the recess is separated from the water space by a transparent or translucent shield sealingly secured to the rim of the recess, and in such cases the recesses are usually accessible from the outside of the wall to permit repairs and maintenance without the necessity of draining the pool. In another type the water in the pool is permitted to fill the recesses, and in this type of installation the lamp fixtures themselves are hermetically sealed and usually provided with a watertight electric cord of sufficient length to permit removal of the entire fixture from the inside of the pool, through the water if desired, for repairs, replacement of bulbs, and other aspects of maintenance.

In either case it is, of course, important that the transparent or translucent shield, in the following description termed the lens, through which the light passes for illumination of the pool, is constructed and affixed in a manner to prevent penetration of water into the interior of the fixture where it would be in contact with the electrical components, such as bulbs, sockets and the like, and thereby permit dangerous leakage of voltage into the pool water.

Underwater lights available in the market normally fulfill these requirements in a satisfactory way. However, should the lens itself be cracked, broken or shattered the safeguards against the abovementioned dangerous conditions would be of no avail since water from the pool would penetrate into the interior of the fixture.

It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide a lens for underwater light installations which even in a shattered condition substantially prevents leakage of electric voltage into the pool water outside of the fixture.

It is another object of the invention to provide a lens of the kind indicated in which the electrically non-conductive lens material of which the shield is made, has embedded therein a plurality of wires, or bars, of electrically conductive material which are in conductive contact with an electrically conductive rim along the perimeter of the lens, said rim being adapted to be grounded when in installed condition.

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Still another object of the invention is to provide a lens of the kind indicated in which the conductive wires, or bars, are arranged in a pattern of any suitable configuration and have portions extending beyond the contour of the lens proper into recesses provided in the surrounding rim where said projecting portions of the wires are in close conductive contact with the rim material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a lens of the kind indicated in which the conductive wires, or bars, are made of a bright and light reflective material, such as nickel-stainless steel, arranged in a manner similar to the slats of a Venetian blind so as to divert direct light from persons in the pool.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a section through a recessed concrete wall of a swimming pool with an embodiment of the light fixture mounted in the recess and shown in partial section,

FIG. 2 is a front view of the lens of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a detailed sectional view of a portion of the arrangement of FIG. 1, and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are partial sectional views of two different embodiments of the lens according to the invention.

In the drawing, a lamp and socket housing 10' has an open front at 12 but is otherwise watertight and provided with an electric cord connection 14 sealed against water leakage in any suitable manner. Within the housing 10 a lamp bulb (not shown) is secured in a socket (not shown in any well known manner. A circumferential flange 16 at the front edge of the housing 10 is provided with a circumferential groove 18 in which is positioned a rubber gasket 20 in sealing engagement with an annular metal rim 22 which is pressed against the rubber gasket 20 by means of a plurality of bolts 24 extending through the flange 16 at circumferential intervals and threaded into a metal ring 26 which engages the front face of the rim 22, as shown.

Bonded to the inner cylindrical surface of the rim 22 at 28 is a curved lens 30 having its concave side facing the interior of the housing 10. The lens 30 is made of a transparent or translucent material, such as glass or plastics, and it has embedded therein a grid structure comprising two groups of crossing metal wires 32 which at the crosspoints, such as 34, are firmly united together, as by Welding. The wires 32 project from the outer rim of the lens 30, and the projections 36 extend into recesses 38 in the inner surface of the rim 22 in firm electrically conductive contact with said rim. The projections 36 may be welded to the rim 22 in said recesses 38.

The wires 32, notably the horizontal wires of the grid structure are preferably made of a bright and light reflective material, such as nickel-stainless steel, arranged in a manner similar to the slats of a Venetian blind so as to divert direct light from persons in the pool.

Spring clips 40 are secured to the flange 16 by means of the bolts 24 and project radially outwardly therefrom. The metal ring 26 has a radially extending circumferential flange 42, the purpose of said spring clips 40 and said flange 42 being explained below.

The wires 32 may have any desired cross-sectional shape, e.g., round as indicated in FIG. 4. It has been found, however, that a particularly advantageous crosssectional shape, particularly of the horizontal wires, is the flat shape indicated at 32a in FIG. 5 with the wires mounted at an inclination, as shown.

In FIG. 1 a vertical side wall 44 of a swimming pool is shown provided with an opening, or recess, 46. One or more such openings may be provided, usually at a depth of approximately two feet below the water level in the pool. In each opening a substantially cylindrical metal sleeve 48 is secured, as by pouring the concrete Wall around it. Preferably the sleeve 48 is provided with an inwardly extending circumferential flange 50 at its outer end, and a metal cap, indicated at 52, is removably secured to said sleeve in any appropriate manner (not shown). The cap 52 has a scalable opening (not shown) for an electrical cord 54 connecting the lamp to an electric circuit.

The assembled lamp fixture is inserted in the sleeve 48 from the inside of the pool simply by pushing it in until the flange 42 engages a shoulder 56 on the sleeve 48, and it is held in place by the spring clips 40 resiliently pressing aginst the inner surface of the sleeve 48. Bolts (not shown) may be inserted through holes in the flange 42 and threaded into the sleeve 48 at the shoulder 56 in order to enhance the fastening of the fixture in place and also the conductive relation between the flange 42 and ground as represented by the sleeve 48.

It has been found that a lamp constructed and mounted as described affords a considerable amount of protection against any voltage accidentally being transmitted to the water in the pool. Obviously, the lamp bulb is normally hermetically enclosed, and if an electrical fault of any kind should occur in the system the enclosure is so thoroughly grounded as to prevent transmission of voltage beyond the lens 30. Even if the lens 30 should be broken or shattered so as to admit water into the housing 10, the grid structure usually remains undamaged to such an extent that it forms an electrostatic shield which is still thoroughly grounded and thus substantially confines the voltage to the lamp structure. In this respect the wire shape shown in FIG. 5 has proven superior to that indicated in FIG. 4.

In the type of installation mentioned above in which the recess is to be maintained dry, the rim 22 may be secured by means of bolts directly to the shoulder 56 with a sealing gasket inserted therebetween. In this case grounding of the rim may be achieved in any well known manner as, for example, by providing a close sliding fit between the perimeter of the rim and the sleeve 48 or by means of conductive spring clips similar to clips 40 secured to the rim. Any kind of bulb holder may in this case be substituted for the fixture 10 since it need not be watertight.

Modifications of the embodiments shown and described will be apparent to those skilled in the art, within the scope and spirit of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

1. In an underwater light installation, particularly for swimming pools, aquariums, and display fountains a light fixture for holding electric lamp components and having an open side, means sealingly connected to said light fixture for connecting said lamp components with a power source, a transparent or translucent lens, a conductive rim sealingly secured to the perimeter of said lens and being provided with an inner circumferential recess, a metal ring in conductive engagement with said rim and with ground, means securing said ring to said light fixture at the open side thereof with said rim clamped between said ring and light fixture, sealing means between said rim and light fixture for watertight sealing of said light fixture, a plurality of bright and light-reflecting, electrically conductive flat strips of substantially rectangular crosssection embedded in said lens in an arrangement similar to that of slantingly disposed slats of a Venetian blind, a plurality of electrically conductive wires embedded in said lens transversely of said horizontal strips and being welded thereto at the crossing points, and end portions of said strips and wires projecting beyond the perimeter of said lens and being secured by welding in said inner circumferential recess of said rim.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,030,435 4/1962 Andrews 174-35.4 3,192,379 6/ 1965 De Garmo 24026 3,265,804 8/1966 Berger et a1 240-106 X 3,265,884 8/1966 Kelley 240-26 JOHN M. HORAN, Primary Examiner. NORTON ANSHER, Examiner. W. M. FRYE, Assistant Examiner. 

